William of Modena
Encyclopedia
William of Modena also known as William of Sabina, Guglielmo de Chartreaux, Guglielmo de Savoy, Guillelmus, was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat. He was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia
in the 1220s and in the Prussian
questions of the 1240s. Eventually he resigned his see
to devote himself to these diplomatic issues. On May 28, 1244 he was created Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina by Pope Innocent IV
. For a short time (1219-1222) he served also as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church.
and named bishop of Modena in May 1222, William was sent as Papal legate
to resolve differences that resulted from the outcome of the Livonian Crusade
in Livonia in 1225. The Prince Bishop Albert and the semi-monastic military Order, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
, the Teutonic crusaders and the Russians, all had claims, which were made more difficult by language barriers. William soon earned the confidence of all sides, arranging diplomatic compromises on boundaries, overlapping ecclesiastical and territorial jurisdictions, taxes, coinage, and other subjects, but he could not resolve the basic quarrel: who was to be master in Livonia. William sought to remove Estonia
from contention by placing it directly under papal control, appointing his own vice-legate as governor, and by bringing in German knights as vassals. But the vice-legate subsequently turned the land over to the Brothers of the Sword. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
one of the greatest medieval narratives, was written probably as a report for him, giving him the history of the Church in Livonia up to his time. It relates how in 1226, in another stronghold, called Tarwanpe, William of Modena successfully mediated peace between Germans, Danes and Estonians.
, the evangelizing first Bishop of Prussia, who, if he had been more successful, would have been sainted, as an "Apostle to the Prussians," and the Knights of the Teutonic Order, to whom Christian and Duke Conrad of Masovia had pledged territorial properties. Before 1227, only Christian's own Cistercian order had assisted him in fortified eastern missions; but with the arrival of the Teutonic Knights, the Dominican
s, who were favored by the order and by Pope Gregory IX
, took a strong foothold in Prussia, while Christian and his Cistercians were thrown into the background. William of Modena, who had been appointed papal legate for Prussia, disregarded the rights of Christian, who had the misfortune to be captured by the pagan Prussians and held for ransom (1233-39), and proceeded in his absence to appoint another Bishop of Prussia. In 1236, Gregory IX, apparently giving up on Christian, empowered William of Modena to divide Prussia into three dioceses. The bishops for these new sees were, in accordance with the wish of the Teutonic Order, to be selected from the Dominican Order, while no provision whatsoever was made for the imprisoned Bishop Christian.
Finally, in the winter of 1239-40, Christian obtained his liberty. He was obliged to give hostages whom he afterwards ransomed for a sum stated as no less than eight hundred marks, which was granted to him by Gregory. Immediately upon his liberation, Christian complained to the pope that the Teutonic Order refused baptism to those who desired it and oppressed the newly converted. More concrete charges concerned episcopal rights that they claimed and properties they refused to restore. The confrontation had not been settled when Gregory died (22 August 1241). Christian and the Teutonic Order then agreed that two thirds of the conquered territory in Prussia should belong to the Order, to form a Teutonic Order state, and one-third to the bishop; that, moreover, the bishop should have the right to exercise ecclesiastical functions in the territory belonging to the Order.
William of Modena did not give up his plans of dividing Prussia into dioceses instead of empowering a vast territorial knightly order. He finally obtained from Pope Innocent IV
permission to make a division, and on 29 July 1243, the Bishopric of Prussia was divided into four dioceses:
In 1243 the territorial possessions of the Teutonic Knights were divided into the Dioceses of Culm, Pomesanien, Ermland, and Samland.
under the archbishopric of Riga
with Visby
as mother city to Riga. Both cities joined the Hanseatic League
. Christian received for his decades of apostolic labor the privilege to select for himself any one of the four new episcopal sees, a choice he refused.
died after a short reign of sixteen days, the excommunicated Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick II
, was in possession of the Papal States
of the Church around Rome and attempted to intimidate the cardinals into electing a pope to his own liking. The cardinals fled to Anagni
and cast their votes for Sinibaldo de' Fieschi, who ascended to the papal throne as Innocent IV on 25 June 1243, after an interregnum of more than a year and a half. Innocent IV had previously been a friend of Frederick II. Immediately after the election the emperor sent messengers with congratulations and overtures of peace, which Innocent refused to receive. Two months later he sent emissaries including Peter de Colmieu, Archbishop of Rouen
, William of Modena, who had resigned his episcopal office, and Abbot William of St. Facundus as legates to the emperor at Melfi with instructions to ask him to release the prelates whom he had captured while on their way to a council that Gregory IX had intended to hold at Rome and challenge the emperor to make satisfaction for the injuries which he had inflicted upon the Church, which had caused Gregory IX to put him under the ban of excommunication
. Should the emperor deny that he had done any wrong to the Church, or even assert the injustice of the Church, the legates were to propose that the decision should be left to a council of kings, prelates, and temporal princes. Frederick entered into an agreement with Innocent on March 31, 1244. He promised to yield to the demands of the Curia in all essential points, to restore the States of the Church, to release the prelates, and to grant amnesty to the allies of the pope. His insincerity became apparent when he secretly incited various tumults in Rome and refused to release the imprisoned prelates.
Feeling himself hindered in his freedom of action on account of the emperor's military preponderance, and fearing for his personal safety, Innocent decided to flee Sutri
in disguise for Civitavecchia
and board a fleet provided by the sympathetic Genoese. During the night of 27-28 June he made his escape to Genoa. In October he went to Burgundy, and in December to Lyons, where he remained in exile the following six years.
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
in the 1220s and in the Prussian
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
questions of the 1240s. Eventually he resigned his see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
to devote himself to these diplomatic issues. On May 28, 1244 he was created Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina by Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
. For a short time (1219-1222) he served also as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church.
In Livonia
Born in PiedmontPiedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
and named bishop of Modena in May 1222, William was sent as Papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
to resolve differences that resulted from the outcome of the Livonian Crusade
Livonian Crusade
The Livonian Crusade refers to the German and Danish conquest and colonization of medieval Livonia, the territory constituting modern Latvia and Estonia, during the Northern Crusades...
in Livonia in 1225. The Prince Bishop Albert and the semi-monastic military Order, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
Livonian Brothers of the Sword
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword were a military order founded by Bishop Albert of Riga in 1202. Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German "warrior monks"...
, the Teutonic crusaders and the Russians, all had claims, which were made more difficult by language barriers. William soon earned the confidence of all sides, arranging diplomatic compromises on boundaries, overlapping ecclesiastical and territorial jurisdictions, taxes, coinage, and other subjects, but he could not resolve the basic quarrel: who was to be master in Livonia. William sought to remove Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
from contention by placing it directly under papal control, appointing his own vice-legate as governor, and by bringing in German knights as vassals. But the vice-legate subsequently turned the land over to the Brothers of the Sword. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
The Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of these...
one of the greatest medieval narratives, was written probably as a report for him, giving him the history of the Church in Livonia up to his time. It relates how in 1226, in another stronghold, called Tarwanpe, William of Modena successfully mediated peace between Germans, Danes and Estonians.
The bishoprics of Prussia question
Even while William was negotiating in Livonia, the conflicts were brewing that would occupy him two decades later. In the Crusades to conquer and Christianize Prussia at swordpoint, William of Modena found himself required to mediate between the rival claims and conflicting programs of ChristianChristian of Oliva
Christian of Oliva , also Christian of Prussia was the first missionary bishop of Prussia.Christian was born about 1180 in the Duchy of Pomerania, possibly in the area of Chociwel...
, the evangelizing first Bishop of Prussia, who, if he had been more successful, would have been sainted, as an "Apostle to the Prussians," and the Knights of the Teutonic Order, to whom Christian and Duke Conrad of Masovia had pledged territorial properties. Before 1227, only Christian's own Cistercian order had assisted him in fortified eastern missions; but with the arrival of the Teutonic Knights, the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
s, who were favored by the order and by Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...
, took a strong foothold in Prussia, while Christian and his Cistercians were thrown into the background. William of Modena, who had been appointed papal legate for Prussia, disregarded the rights of Christian, who had the misfortune to be captured by the pagan Prussians and held for ransom (1233-39), and proceeded in his absence to appoint another Bishop of Prussia. In 1236, Gregory IX, apparently giving up on Christian, empowered William of Modena to divide Prussia into three dioceses. The bishops for these new sees were, in accordance with the wish of the Teutonic Order, to be selected from the Dominican Order, while no provision whatsoever was made for the imprisoned Bishop Christian.
Finally, in the winter of 1239-40, Christian obtained his liberty. He was obliged to give hostages whom he afterwards ransomed for a sum stated as no less than eight hundred marks, which was granted to him by Gregory. Immediately upon his liberation, Christian complained to the pope that the Teutonic Order refused baptism to those who desired it and oppressed the newly converted. More concrete charges concerned episcopal rights that they claimed and properties they refused to restore. The confrontation had not been settled when Gregory died (22 August 1241). Christian and the Teutonic Order then agreed that two thirds of the conquered territory in Prussia should belong to the Order, to form a Teutonic Order state, and one-third to the bishop; that, moreover, the bishop should have the right to exercise ecclesiastical functions in the territory belonging to the Order.
William of Modena did not give up his plans of dividing Prussia into dioceses instead of empowering a vast territorial knightly order. He finally obtained from Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...
permission to make a division, and on 29 July 1243, the Bishopric of Prussia was divided into four dioceses:
In 1243 the territorial possessions of the Teutonic Knights were divided into the Dioceses of Culm, Pomesanien, Ermland, and Samland.
- Bishopric of Culm Culm,
- Bishopric of PomesaniaBishopric of PomesaniaThe Bishopric of Pomesania was a diocese in the Prussian regions of Pomesania and Pogesania. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena. The bishops, whose seat was Riesenburg , possessed one-third of the bishopric's territory...
PomesaniaPomesaniaPomesanians were one of the Prussian clans. They lived in Pomesania , a historical region in modern northern Poland, located between the Nogat and Vistula Rivers to the west and the Elbląg River to the east. It is located around the modern towns of Elbląg and Malbork...
, - Bishopric of Ermland WarmiaWarmiaWarmia or Ermland is a region between Pomerelia and Masuria in northeastern Poland. Together with Masuria, it forms the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship....
(Ermland), and - Bishopric of SamlandBishopric of SamlandThe Bishopric of Samland was a bishopric in Samland in medieval Prussia. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by papal legate William of Modena. Its seat was Königsberg, until 1523 the episcopal residence was in Fischhausen. The bishopric became Lutheran in the 16th century during...
SambiaSambiaSambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Lagoon and the Vistula Lagoon demarcate the peninsula. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia.-Names:Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct...
(Samland, now KaliningradKaliningradKaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
),
under the archbishopric of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
with Visby
Visby
-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...
as mother city to Riga. Both cities joined the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
. Christian received for his decades of apostolic labor the privilege to select for himself any one of the four new episcopal sees, a choice he refused.
An embassy to Frederick II
In the meantime William had been at Rome. When Celestine IVPope Celestine IV
Pope Celestine IV , born Goffredo da Castiglione, was pope from October 25, 1241 to November 10, 1241.Born in Milan, Goffredo or Godfrey is often referred to as son of a sister of Pope Urban III , but this information is without foundation...
died after a short reign of sixteen days, the excommunicated Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
, was in possession of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
of the Church around Rome and attempted to intimidate the cardinals into electing a pope to his own liking. The cardinals fled to Anagni
Anagni
Anagni is an ancient town and comune in Latium, central Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome. It is a historical center in Ciociaria.-Geography:...
and cast their votes for Sinibaldo de' Fieschi, who ascended to the papal throne as Innocent IV on 25 June 1243, after an interregnum of more than a year and a half. Innocent IV had previously been a friend of Frederick II. Immediately after the election the emperor sent messengers with congratulations and overtures of peace, which Innocent refused to receive. Two months later he sent emissaries including Peter de Colmieu, Archbishop of Rouen
Archbishop of Rouen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....
, William of Modena, who had resigned his episcopal office, and Abbot William of St. Facundus as legates to the emperor at Melfi with instructions to ask him to release the prelates whom he had captured while on their way to a council that Gregory IX had intended to hold at Rome and challenge the emperor to make satisfaction for the injuries which he had inflicted upon the Church, which had caused Gregory IX to put him under the ban of excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
. Should the emperor deny that he had done any wrong to the Church, or even assert the injustice of the Church, the legates were to propose that the decision should be left to a council of kings, prelates, and temporal princes. Frederick entered into an agreement with Innocent on March 31, 1244. He promised to yield to the demands of the Curia in all essential points, to restore the States of the Church, to release the prelates, and to grant amnesty to the allies of the pope. His insincerity became apparent when he secretly incited various tumults in Rome and refused to release the imprisoned prelates.
Feeling himself hindered in his freedom of action on account of the emperor's military preponderance, and fearing for his personal safety, Innocent decided to flee Sutri
Sutri
Sutri is a town and comune in the province of Viterbo, about 50 km from Rome, and about 30 km south of Viterbo. It is picturesquely situated on a narrow tuff hill, surrounded by ravines, a narrow neck on the west alone connecting it with the surrounding country.thumb|220px|Entrance to the...
in disguise for Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometers west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. The harbor is formed by two piers and a breakwater, on which is a lighthouse...
and board a fleet provided by the sympathetic Genoese. During the night of 27-28 June he made his escape to Genoa. In October he went to Burgundy, and in December to Lyons, where he remained in exile the following six years.
External links
- Map of Alt Preussenland Old Prussia
- An Historical Overview of the Crusade to Livonia, by William UrbanWilliam UrbanWilliam Urban is a crusader historian specialising in Baltic Crusades and the Teutonic knights, and is one of the leading experts on the matter in the US. He is the Lee L. Morgan Professor of History and International studies at Monmouth College. In 2000, for his efforts on the crusades, Urban won...
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Christian; Innocent IV;